A pharmaceutical company that fired a woman for refusing to work on her Sabbath is guilty of religious discrimination, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Charlene Pepper, a Seventh-day Adventist Church member, was an employee of Vintage Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a drug manufacturer located in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Pepper was fired in November last year for declining to work on her Sabbath, which runs from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

In a lawsuit filed September 27, the EEOC asks for back pay, damages, reinstatement of Pepper, as well as an injunction prohibiting the firm from engaging in future religious discrimination.

Pepper had told the company, before she was hired, that she could not work on her Sabbath, says Amireh Al-Haddad, assistant director of public affairs and religious liberty for the Adventist Church in the U.S. Southern region. But in November 2000, Pepper was informed she would be required to do Saturday work as part of “mandatory overtime.” 

“When Charlene told me what had happened, I wrote a three-page letter to the company, explaining the Sabbath belief held by Adventists, and the legal requirement that this sincerely held belief be accommodated,” says Al-Haddad. Despite this action, Pepper was fired one day later.  Another woman employed by the same company refused to work on her Sunday Sabbath, and she was also dismissed, adds Al-Haddad.

“Today’s workforce is made up of people of all faiths—Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and many others,” said Reuben Daniels Jr., director of EEOC’s Charlotte District Office, in a press statement released September 27. “Many people have religious beliefs that require them to take time off or adjust their work schedules for religious observes.”  Under United States anti-discrimination law, employers must make reasonable accommodation for the sincerely held religious beliefs and practices of their employees, so long as doing so does not cause an undue hardship to the employer.